The money targeted in the Trump budget proposal isn't yet tied to any specific conservation project at Lake Tahoe or elsewhere.

Were the sweep to occur it would affect the overall pool of money available for potential future projects eligible for funding under the act.

During a conference call Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke characterized it as a one-time move that wouldn’t threaten the viability of the program.

“We are not proposing it for elimination,” Zinke said. “The program will remain healthy.”

The program, which launched in 1998, uses money from public land sales near Las Vegas to fund conservation projects, mostly in Nevada.

The act has generated more than $3.4 billion for projects in every county in Nevada along with Placer and El Dorado counties in California.

It was created as a way to support growth and development of Las Vegas while using the proceeds to conserve environmentally sensitive areas and support outdoor recreation. In 2003 Congress set aside $300 million from funding under the act specifically for Lake Tahoe.

The money has gone toward everything from erosion reduction to stream restoration to invasive species control. Even though Tahoe projects have already reached the $300 million cap included in the 2003 legislation, the region still benefits from the act through forest management and fire fuel reduction spending.

Assurances from Zinke, an appointee of Republican President Donald Trump, weren’t enough to stop members of Nevada’s Congressional delegation from criticizing the administration’s plan to dip into the program’s money.

“This program has invested over $3.4 billion in over 1,200 conservation projects across Nevada, including wildfire prevention, restoration efforts at Lake Tahoe, and the development of parks, trails, and other natural areas,” said Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev. “That is why I will continue to defend this program from any attempt to rescind its funding, and I urge the Administration to keep it intact.”

“President Trump’s budget proposal to gut this – to the tune of $230 million – is not only reckless, it undermines the bipartisan work done for decades to implement this program,” Masto said. “I intend to fight this budget and any proposal that takes away critical resources from Nevada.”

The Southern Nevada Public Land Management is a minuscule part of the Interior Department budget.

The Interior Department budget request represents the administration’s vision for future funding and will likely change based on input from Congress.

Zinke’s overall budget request for the department, which manages 417 national parks, 566 national wildlife refuges and more than 245 million acres of land which host an estimated 473 million visitors annually, was $11.7 billion, a 12 percent decrease from the 2017 funding level.

What the Interior Department budget request says about Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act

Cancel Southern Nevada Public Land Management
Act Account Balances – The budget proposes legislation
to cancel $230.0 million in unobligated balances
from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management
Act program over a three year period. The SNPLMA
was enacted in 1998 authorizing the Bureau of Land
Management to sell specified public lands around
Las Vegas, Nevada and retain the proceeds for capital
improvements and various conservation, restoration, and
recreational purposes in the State. The budget proposes
to redirect a portion of the program balances to the
Treasury where they are available for broader taxpayer
use. The SNPLMA program is not proposed for elimination
and viable conservation efforts will continue to
be supported.